Robert



(No Model.)

B, H. WILES. SPRING HINGE No. 464,406. Patented Dec. 1-, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT I-l. WILES, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE FREEPORTHARDVARE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPRING-HINGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,406, dated December1, 1891.

Application filed March 21, 189].- Serial No. 885,904- (No model.)

T l 107007111 it may concern.- of the spring is held upon the casing andthe Beitknown thatLROBERTHWILES,acitiother end upon the edge of thedoor, thus zen of the United States of America, residing forcing the twoends of the spring a considat Freeport, in the county of Stephenson anderable distance out of a vertical line. To en- 5 State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new able this to be done and to insure the return anduseful Improvements in Spring-Hinges, of the spring to its normalposition, it is necof which the following is a description. essarilymade of considerable length, which My invention relates to the class ofspringlength must be, of course, added to the hinge hinges which areknown as double-acting, itself. Besides this disadvantage, the bend toand which are designed to support a door so ing of the spring in thisway causes an unas to allow it to be opened in either directionnecessary strain upon it and is liable to upset and to return the doorto its closed position the wire and destroy the tension of the spring.when released. Hinges of this class as here'- The third sub-class ofdouble-acting hinges tofore constructed may be divided into three standsalone and has been more extensively V I5 sub-classes. Of these subclasses two are applied to gates and similar structureawhieh what areknown as three-leaf hinges, which 'it is not necessary to closetightly,than to consist, merely, of an ordinary hinge having doors. 7 In thisclass the door swings both Ways one leaf secured to the door-casing andthe uponthesamepivot,andthespringissoapplied other leaf extendingbetween the door-casing that as the door passes its closed position in20 and the door and having a thirdleaf pivoted swinging from one side tothe other the engageto its-free end and secured to the door. This, mentsof the two ends of the spring are reit will be seen, is the combinationof two silnspectively shifted--one from the casing to the ple hingesapplied to the door so that one al door and the other from the door tothe easlows it to be opened in one direction and the ing-which, it willreadily be seen by any one 2 5 other in the other direction, said hingesbefamiliar with the properties of a coiled spring, ing so united thatneither interferes with the reverses the action thereof. To swing theoperation of the other. In one of these subdoor either way upon a singlepivot, it is necclasses a spring is applied to each of the two essaryeither to leave a space between the simple hinges in such a manner as totend to door and its casing or round ofi either one or o keep thesehinges closed, so that this class the other to prevent them from eitherbindpresents a combination of two single-acting ing or separating incertain positions, and spring-hinges. These hinges are objectionevenwhen this is done the door can only be able for two reasons: First, thecost of thetwo given a limited swing in one or both direcsprings and theattachment of the same to tions. Hence it will be seen that this sub- 35 the hinges renders the latter unnecessarily class also has certainunavoidable and objecexpensive, and, secondly, the springs areartionablefeatures. ranged on either side of the door, where they, It ismy purpose to remove all of. the ob.- or a bulky casing in which theyare inclosed, jections that have been stated as beingiatare exposed toview and make the hinge aptendant upon any or all of these three sub= 9Q4o pear clumsy. In the other sub-class the mid classes of hinges withoutthe loss of the ad dle leaf of the hinge is divided into two porvantagespossessed by any one of them; tions arranged one at some distance aboveTo this end my invention consists in the the other and opening inopposite directions, combination, in a double-acting spring-hinge, and asingle spring is applied to the two porof two leaves adapted,respectively, for at- 5 5 tions of this middle leaf, so as to constantlytachment to the door and casing and pivoted tend to bring the threeleaves together. In together at each side of the door, so that thishingeas the door is opened one of the either pivot may yield when the door isportions of the middle leaf is carried with the swung away from it, butnot when swung todoor, and the end of the spring attached to, ward it,and a coiled spring provided with too 50 said portion is twisted out ofposition, so that suitable connections with the two leaves to apwhen thedoor is completely opened one end ply the torsion of the spring at alltimes to bring saidleaves together without at any time forcing thespring out of a straight axial line. A great variety of constructionsmay be made, all of which contain the broad features of my invention.

My preferred construction is shown in the drawings presented herewith,in which- Figure'l shows the hinge opened wide with the pivots at oneside removed to allow the different parts of the hinge to take aposition where they can all be clearly seen. Figs. 2 and 3 arecross-sections taken in line 2 2 of Fig. 1, but showing the hinge as itappears when all of the pins or pintles are in place. Fig. 2 shows theposition of the hinge when the door is half open, and 3 when it isclosed.

Referring to the different parts of the hinge by means of lettersapplied thereto,.A and A are two plates adapted for attachment, one tothe door and the other to the casing, the central portions of which arecut away, except at the edges, to make room for rods or pintles B B, andthe swinging arms 0 O 0 C pivoted upon said pintles and extending inopposite directions therefrom, and also pivoted togetherO C at c c bymeans of pintle B and O C at c 0 by means of a pintle B '-so that thefour arms form a quadrilateral the sides of which are pivoted togetherat the four corners. When the door, which we will suppose is attached tothe plate A in Fig. 2, is swung to the right, as seen in the figure, theplatesA A engage withthe arms C C spreading said arms apart upon thepivot B and at the same time the pivots B B as they separate draw thepivots B toward the pivot B which can be done until the arms 0 G strikethe arms 0 0 As it is necessary to enlarge these arms somewhat at theends where they encircle the pivots, the pivots B B are placed back ofthe faces. of the plates A A, as seen in Fig. 2 and the pivots B areseparated and placed at opposite ends of the hinge, so that byshortening the pivot B and arranging it at the middle portion of thehinge the enlarged portions 0 c of the arms 0 C may swing between theenlarged portions ccof the arms 0 0..

Upon the pintle B, I mount a coiled spring D, hearing at its oppositeends upon the arms C C respectively, so that its tension tends tospread=these arms as far apart as their attachment will permit. Thisspring, unless resisted, brings the different parts of the hinge intothe position shown in Fig. 3, which is the position they assume when thedoor is closed. It is obvious that the spring might Y is closed, andthus make one side of the hinge The four arms I cumbersome andunsightly. O O O O are preferably made of the same length from pivot topivot; but this is not absolutely essential, the only difficulty inmaking them of different lengths being either that the door could not beopened to its fullest extent in one or the other direction or thatunnecessary material would be used in their construction.

Fig. l'illustratesa. very important advantage possessed by my improvedhinge in' its preferred formnamely,the ease with which said hinge canbeapplied to the door and casing. To do this the pintlesB B B should befirst removed. The torsion of the spring is then sustained by the arms C0 which rest upon the edges of the plate A',, as is shown in Fig. 3. Theplates A A may now be attached tothe door and casing, respect-- ively,and after they are so atta-ched the door may be lifted into position andthe pintles B B B inserted with the same ease as if an or-- tersPatent- 1. The combination, in a double acting hinge, of four armspivoted together in the, form of a flexible quadrilateral, and twoplates pivoted, respectively, to opposite corners of said quadrilateraland adapted for attachment, respectively, to thedoor and casing,substantially as described.

2. In a double-acting hinge, the combination of two plates adapted forattachment, respectively, to the door andcasing, four arms jointedtogether in the form of a flexible quadrilateral having opposite cornerspivoted to said plates, respectively, and a spring applied to one of thecorners of said quadrilateral and engaging with the two arms pivoted atsaid corner, so as to tend to bring the plates together, substantiallyas described.

ROBERT H. WILES.

WVitnesses:

H. BITNER, S. LUNDEEN.

